Gerald Voisin: The property Louisiana Land and Exploration Company owns is located in 

 nine coastal parishes in southeastern Louisiana. The company adopted a marsh 

 management plan in 1952 in cooperation with the U.S. Soil Conservation Service. 

 Following this plan we have constructed 385 water control structures or weirs, dams, 

 earthen plugs, and shoreline stabilization structures. These management approaches 

 have been successfully applied to freshwater, intermediate, and brackish marshes. I 

 wholeheartedly support plans for freshwater diversion which is the only answer to 

 improving the marsh. The proof is the rapid accretion of marsh in western 

 Terrebonne Parish. On the other hand, in lower Plaquemines Parish there is serious 

 saltwater intrusion and rapid subsidence where there has been a reduced river input. 



Unidentified speaker: Senator Nunez, how much of the $38 million do you think will 

 become available? 



Samuel Nunez: Hopefully all of it. We are probably not asking for enough but we are 

 trying to be realistic. 



Linda Deegan: What will be the effects of the pollutants present in high concentrations 

 in Mississippi River water in the wetlands receiving freshwater diversions? 



Samuel Nunez: Oysters do very well in areas where fresh water is diverted in 

 Plaquemines Parish and they are monitored by the Board of Health. The only 

 problem seems to be increased coliform bacteria counts during certain periods. 

 Improvements in sewage treatment along the lower river will hopefully clear this up. 



Sherwood Gagliano: Water quality can be monitored and the structure can be closed in a 

 short period of time. Furthermore, the structures only operate during high flow 

 conditions when water is generally better. The Nation is committed to achieving 

 certain water quality standards and by agressively using the water for environmental 

 management purposes we help force the issue of meeting those water quality 

 standards. 



Michael Halle: Some of the techniques proposed in the Legislature's report are 

 questionable, based on the opinions of scientists and the presentations made at this 

 conference, including cybernetic architecture, groins and jetties. Why were 

 scientists not used to draw up plans that will work? 



Samuel Nunez: We are not going to be married to any particular plan. We invited many 

 scientists before the committees for their advice. Many of the projects are of the 

 pilot scale to determine whether they will work. Our recommendations include 

 pilot- and full-scale projects in five different approaches: freshwater and sediment 

 diversion, nourishment and revegetation of beaches, artificial reef structures, rock 

 structures, and wetlands management. 



Unidentified speaker: Mr. Voisin, would you clarify your company's policy on backfilling 

 canals? 



Gerald Voisin: We have no problem with backfilling, but do with a blanket policy 

 requiring backfilling. Not every marsh type can support backfilling. In some 

 circumstances it is useless and may destroy more marsh than if the canal were left 

 alone. We agreed with the Coastal Management Section to backfill two canals in 

 every marsh type in which we work and study the effectiveness of these. 



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